


The Gods Cast Their Ballot, It Is You Who Determines Fate

by TheDarknessOfMereBeing



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: Also I totally can, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Rhaegar Won, Arthur Dayne Lives, Canon Divergence - Robert's Rebellion, Elia Martell Deserves Better, Elia Martell Lives, F/M, I Can't Believe I Wrote This, I just really wanted a happy ending so I wrote one, More like almost everyone lives, Not Canon Compliant, Queen Elia Martell, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, What are tags even?, aeweek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:15:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25213018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDarknessOfMereBeing/pseuds/TheDarknessOfMereBeing
Summary: In one life, the gods decide that they are to meet a sad and tragic end.In this life, the gods do not have the final say, so they choose differently and it changes everything.
Relationships: Arthur Dayne/Elia Martell
Comments: 13
Kudos: 24





	The Gods Cast Their Ballot, It Is You Who Determines Fate

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this over a month ago for ae week, and spent the last month debating if I wanted to actually post it. I haven't written anything since I was 13, so this was fun and nerve-racking.

It rained the first day you met  
You can still taste the water as it falls on your tongue  
You remember the way her dress clung to her, the way her eyes sparkled  
You’d never seen anyone more beautiful

\-----

Seeing him for the first time reminded you of the Water Gardens  
Beauty personified, a gift only the gods could ever rival  
He looks like a god and you have never felt more human  
He is so beautiful it haunts you

\-----

You are the Warrior, Dawn is yours for the taking  
You are brave in all things but this  
When your sister calls you the bravest person she knows, you want to laugh  
How can you be called brave if you never go after the only thing you ever really wanted?

\-----

If he is a star then you are the sun  
Your gaze is piercing and your touch makes men come undone  
You take and you demand, and he gives, he always gives for you  
You are the only temple he will ever worship from

\-----

When you finally say the words, you try to believe it is for the best  
All the best songs, the most romantic and tragic are about knights and their princesses  
But you are not just any knight and she is not just any princess  
You are not brave, they’ll never write a song for you

\-----

Predictably, it starts and ends at a tourney  
You are crowned the queen of love and beauty by the man who holds your heart  
A confession and a declaration for all the world to see  
Your love was doomed from the start, the gods are cruel in their nature

\-----

You want to turn away, you cannot help but to think this is all wrong  
When they say the words, you remember words once spoken under the stars  
When they turn and it is pronounced, she is lost to you  
You were never worthy of her anyway

\-----

They say your husband is a god, but all you see is a man  
There is nothing wrong with the way he beds you, you give and he takes  
But it is too soft, too light, you want rough hands and borderline tortuous loving  
You realize he will never love you and you will never love him, it should hurt more, but it doesn’t

\-----

Watching her grow big with child reminds you of the past  
You remember the names you would have chosen and how you imagined them to look  
She told you once that your son would look just like you  
When her daughter is born and she turns to you, she looks exactly how you’d imagine except she’d been yours

\----

You still have not forgiven him for taking you the night of the comet  
He is the happiest you’ve ever seen him, he might actually be capable of loving you  
Being with child as you travel has to be the worst thing you could ever imagine  
Until he crowns the wolf girl and you remember tourneys only ever give you grief

\------

You have been at the tower for weeks, you see she is just a child and you her captor  
You question your vows, why you stayed, and why you haven’t confronted him  
You say the words out loud, words you have never spoken to anyone including her  
He makes accusations, you pack up and leave, you should have never left her, and you don’t look back

\----

Seeing him again brings back all the anger you kept at bay  
You scream and you yell, you want him to feel all of what you have felt  
He doesn’t ask for your forgiveness, he knows he cannot  
He only asks to let him stay and so you do

\-----

Today you are brave, today you are worthy of a song  
When you turn your head and look back, seeing them strengthens your resolve  
When he bursts through the door and your swords meet, you know what you must do  
There is only one thing left to do

\-----

You want to laugh and you want to cry, somehow you manage to do neither  
When your husband walks through the gate with his new wife and son, you know things have changed  
The bards are already singing songs about them, but they never seem to get it right  
One day they’ll sing your song, it will be the most famous song ever sung, and for once the bards will get it right

\-----

When he turns to you and he starts his sentence, you know that you are brave and strong  
You will take, you will demand, and you will have the only thing you’ve ever really wanted  
Eventually he concedes, you are the only person he has ever conceded to, but it is not him you need to give  
You want and need it to be her, you could only ever be brave for her

\----

You wake up in his arms, safe from the outside world  
Your children and brothers are only down the hall  
You are surrounded by people loyal only to you  
All the pieces are finally falling into place

\-----

Almost expectantly, it starts and ends at the tourney  
You crown her, the woman who holds your heart, the queen of love and beauty  
A confession and a declaration for all to see  
Your love is everything, the gods could never have predicted this

\-----

At the feast, the bards are already singing about a dragon and his wolf  
When they all turn to you with eyes full of pity, you only have eyes for him  
He takes and you give, you always give for him  
You are his and he is yours, and one day the world will know of it

\-----

A new song is sung, one that has never been sung before  
It is about the greatest knight who ever lived and his princess turned queen  
It is a song about healing and mending what was destroyed and broken  
It is about love, not the destructive kind the songs about her husband boast, but the one that saves and changes the world for the better

\-----

He is the star that shines in the darkness  
You are the sun that gives and saves life  
Together your love changes everything  
Together you bring the gods to their knees


End file.
